Integration Policy for Syrian Refugees’ Access to Turkish Higher Education: Inclusive Enough?

Hakan Ergin,Hans De Wit

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-56316-5_9

Abstract

AbstractOpening its door to 3.6 million Syrians, Turkey is host to the largest refugee population today (UNHCR 2020). In addition to providing them with humanitarian aid, Turkey has made academic and financial reforms to enhance Syrian refugees‘ access to higher education (Ergin and de Wit 2019). Thanks to these reforms, over 27,034 Syrian refugees accessed Turkish universities as of the end of 2019 (CoHE 2020). Appreciating this humanitarian effort of an emerging country without abundant resources, this study questions how the government policy of enhancing Syrian refugees‘ access to Turkish universities could be more inclusive. In this respect, using available official statistics of current Syrian students in Turkish higher education, this study reveals which Syrian refugees have accessed higher education in Turkey and what should be done to enhance the access of other Syrian refugees who are left behind there.

Highlights

Even the first human beings, Adam and Eve, experienced it when they ate the “forbidden fruit”, according to the Jewish, Christian and Islamic religions. Since it has repeated itself on the Earth in the forms of individual and mass movements from a place to another, such as the cases of early sophists in Ancient Greece, European tribes in the Migration Period and German Jewish scholars in Nazi Germany
As the recent statistics of the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) indicate, 37,000 people a day are forced to displace from a place to another due to persecution and conflicts in their home countries (UNHCR 2019)
The reforms enabled over 27.034 Syrians to enroll in a study program at Turkish universities as of the end of 2019 (Council of Higher Education [CoHE], 2020)

Summary

Introduction

Forced displacement has been a “tragic destiny” of humanity (Ergin 2016). Even the first human beings, Adam and Eve, experienced it when they ate the “forbidden fruit”, according to the Jewish, Christian and Islamic religions. As the recent statistics of the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) indicate, 37,000 people a day are forced to displace from a place to another due to persecution and conflicts in their home countries (UNHCR 2019). This number is a result of the ongoing conflicts around the world, such as the fight between the government and opposition forces in South Sudan, everlasting internal instability in Afghanistan since the U.S intervention in 2001 and economic crisis in Venezuela. Much attention has been given to the challenges of developed countries in receiving refugees from developing countries, as in the Syrian case, where the refugees

Ergin (B)

The Syrian Conflict and Its Impact on Turkey

Integrating Syrian Students into Turkish Higher Education

A Closer Look at Syrian Students in Turkish Higher Education

Findings

Discussion on the Inclusivity of the Policy

Conclusion